CRS: Assistance to North Korea, December 24, 2008

From WikiLeaks

The CRS is a Congressional "think tank" with a staff of around 700. Reports are commissioned by members of Congress on topics relevant to current political events. Despite CRS costs to the tax payer of over $100M a year, its electronic archives are, as a matter of policy, not made available to the public.

Individual members of Congress will release specific CRS reports if they believe it to assist them politically, but CRS archives as a whole are firewalled from public access.

This report was obtained by Wikileaks staff from CRS computers accessible only from Congressional offices.

Aid to North Korea has been controversial since its inception, and the controversy is intricately linked to the overall debate in the United States, South Korea, and other countries over the best strategy for dealing with the DPRK. North Korea is deemed a threat to U.S. interests because it possesses advanced nuclear and missile programs, has a history of proliferating missiles, may have exported its nuclear technology, is suspected of possessing chemical and biological weapons programs, and has large (albeit deteriorating) conventional forces on the border with South Korea, a key U.S. ally. Instability inside North Korea could spill over into China, South Korea, and possibly Japan and/or Russia. Additionally, Pyongyang also is characterized as one of the world's worst violators of human rights and religious freedom, a record that some Members of Congress and interest groups say should assume greater importance in the formation of U.S. priorities toward North Korea.